The headline caught my eye, “Eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubles in 2025.”
Fantastic…but 2 x 0 still = 0. I haven’t seen a monarch in my yard for several years now.
And when you dig into the article, you find that the doubling is calculated by the acreage of butterflies overwintering in Central Mexico. They are currently taking up 4.4 acres, up from 2.2 acres the year before. 4 acres is about 19,000 square yards. A football field is is 6,400 square yards. Butterflies are taking up about 3 football fields-worth of forest. Oof.
But this was supposed to be good news, so let’s focus on the doubling, and what we can all do to keep the doubling going:
- Plant milkweed. Even if it doesn’t fit into your carefully planned landscaping, plant some anyway. (And get your neighbors to buy into the idea, if you can.) Milkweed is the ONLY host plant for monarch eggs and caterpillars.
- Don’t use herbicides or pesticides. It won’t kill you to have some diversity in your lawn, and if you care so much about not having a few unplanned visitors in your flower beds, get out the weeding fork. (This one’s a harder sell, but get your neighbors to buy into the idea, if you can.)
That’s it. Two things. But if you want to feel like you’re doing SOMETHING to help these beautiful creatures double again, there you go. Local friends, Wild Birds Unlimited has a native plant sale going on. You can get swamp milkweed plants for $5.00. Everyone else, check out your local native plant nurseries, get out your trowel, and do your part.
Here’s the article. I wanted to get my two cents in before you clicked over. 🙂
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Good to hear the monarchs have increased, perhaps we can grow that increase more… Thanks for this call and suggesting to pass this info on to neighbors. My backyard in the summer is a little milkweed forest and no pesticides or herbicides are used.
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I know I’m preaching to the choir with you, Michelle!
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That’s okay, I like the news and the nudge to speak to our neighbors!
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That is good news! 🙂 Thanks for advocating for the monarch butterflies!
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5 dollars is a bargain. I paid 14 but they are full and healthy. I wanted to give them a good start. Unfortunately I lost most of my (other variety) milkweed but I saved a stem of it by placing it in a bottle of water. Avalyn and I planted the seeds we managed to catch before they flew. Fingers crossed for some visitors in May.
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I also saw that headline, but didn’t do the math to realize how tepidly good it was. Sigh. We have milkweed that was already here when we bought our home, but have yet to see monarchs enjoying it. I think I need to plant a different variety. Also, it’s odd to think of planting when we’re having a spring snowstorm today!
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The combination of good news with is it really good news leaves lots of think about! You make a great case for the importance of doing more to help monarchs. I do think that with the density of butterflies in their overwintering sites, it might be a lot more butterflies, but you’re right–there should be more. (That 2 x 0 = 0 sentence hit me hard.)
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